A Different Kind of Love Story
by Meowser Clancy
Summary: A little story about Mae Jarvis and Jack Garrett, told over a case that tests their limits of endurance and how far they'll let themselves be enticed by each other before they give in to what they both don't admit that they want. For Smart Kira.
1. Chapter 1

He was watching her.

When Mae first realized it, she stiffened a little, not quite believing it. Jack Garret was such an accessible man; so welcoming and warm. It was never hard to go to him, to know that he truly cared about his team and would do anything for them.

But this stare wasn't like his usual checking up glances; his worried flicks to and away to make sure that she was getting on with the police force in whatever local town they were currently in; no matter where they went, there was always that one sexist officer who made a show of bothering her simply because she was female; she was female and she didn't belong there.

And neither was this stare probing, like he thought she had a problem and was wondering when she'd come to him with it. He wasn't examining her with the usual sharpness; he was intent, but in an entirely different way.

Mae Jarvis turned around and met his gaze. What she saw in his eyes shocked her, and she quickly turned around to face the table again, feeling a fission of warmth in her stomach.

No, this wasn't happening. She was done being that girl who fell in love with her teacher in high school, vowing that they'd be together forever before remembering that said teacher was married and way too old for her; and plummeting back to earth.

She was done being the girl in college who'd fallen for a blessedly single teacher's aid, who'd walked her through her first chemistry class and subsequently been fallen madly in love with.

Mae had filled whole notebooks with recollections of times shared with precious, older men in her life. She knew she had a problem, but it was a minor one. She never let herself get attached to the point that she lost herself; once she recognized that she was getting in too deep she pulled back, shoving on the brakes and putting as much distance as possible between herself and the object of her affections.

None of those options were available with Jack Garret. He was always there, always watching. If she pulled back from him, he'd notice. He'd notice and he'd ask why. When she didn't tell him, he'd get that crease in his forehead. After a few days of that, he'd get stressed; he'd start making tea more often and making extra time to talk to Mae, thinking that she had a problem and wondering why she wasn't going to him. And that was worse, it worsened everything to see him acting so anxious over _her_. She knew. She'd tried the same tactics before, and each time, he got more worried.

And she fell even deeper in love with him every time; every case that he spent at her side, worrying if she was okay. She was young, and she was facing all of these horrors. Was she really ready for this? Was he pushing her too hard? Was he making a mistake to let her keep on going on these cases? What if she got infected with some horrible disease?

So Mae had no option. She just had to let him be there, always there, always close. She had to let him smile at her; she couldn't pull away because then he'd see it. And then he'd just notice her all the more.

She turned around and he was still looking at her. So she smiled. And he smiled back.

* * *

Mae was...Mae was sweet. There was no other way to describe it. Whenever Jack saw her, it was like he managed to suck in a little of the essence of her, a little sugar to keep him going. He loved the smile on her face; he couldn't stand it whenever she was worried.

He loved the way she got so studious whenever she was working through something; how she bit her lip.

He loved her intelligence; her quick grasp of human anatomy and how easily and thoroughly she could pinpoint the reason behind a person's death; how much easier she made his job just by the grace of being there, of being present.

He couldn't bear the times, those few, strange times, that she pulled back from him. He didn't understand why; she never said. He'd always worked so hard to figure her out during those times, to try and see why she reacted easily and quickly sometimes when he pulled her into an impromptu hug after a success; hugging him back, and how sometimes she just stiffened, as if scared to death.

He couldn't figure it out. Did she sense that he was...attracted to her?

Because he was. Desperately, but not just sexually, though that was a large component of it.

No, Jack Garrett was attracted to her light; the darkness he'd seen craved someone to light a candle inside of it and Mae Jarvis was that person.

He stepped closer, holding himself back a little so that if she backed away again, he wouldn't be hurt.

But she didn't.

Smiling, she gestured him closer.

"I think we're getting nearer to pinpointing why our UnSub does what she does," she said eagerly. "Come here, I want to show you something on our newest victim. See this burn mark on his wrist?"

As she told him her findings, and they explored what their meanings could be, Jack felt a tightness ease in his chest. He felt like he was breathing oxygen again after hours of being underwater.

She was giving him that, he realized. She was waking him up, invigorating him.

He sucked it in, sucked in the light, the oxygen...He sucked in her. And he knew that this brief encounter with her could keep him going through the rest of this cursed case.

There was a temptation, an urging to move closer, to caress her, touch her, hold her hand, or brush her hair from her face.

Too late; she was pulling it back into a ponytail in preparations for leaving and going off to search for more signs left by the UnSub.

"Coming, Jack?" Matt asked, as he strapped on a helmet and handed Mae the other.

Was he coming?

No. He was good.

"You two take care of it," he instructed, and they were off with a quick nod, leaving him behind.

That was okay. He knew that they'd return, safe and sound. Mae would smile as if to reassure him that she was okay; she was fine, she still hadn't lost any part of herself to this dark job.

And he'd welcome that assurance.

* * *

At the site, as Matt puzzled out where they were going next, he turned back to see Mae, hunched over a notebook.

"What are you writing?" He questioned, walking nearer, and she quickly shoved it back into her bag.

"It's a journal," she admitted, and he could tell that her first choice was 'something stupid' but she'd decided to be honest and get it over with. Matt liked that about her.

"A journal of what?" He wondered.

"Encounters," she breathed, and the light in her eyes from having finished writing made him quiet.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Did anyone else notice how, in 01x02, when Mae says "Hey, I can only control myself, not how others respond to me" then Jack totally stares at her?

Probably. That's what you ship it, right?

I also really like Claire but can't see myself writing for her. I think of her as kind of an amalgamation (in a very good way) of Prentiss, Blake and Callahan.

I like how Mae can be thought of as a Garcia prototype but I see a good amount of Kate in her too.

And Jack? I see him as more a Rossi/Gideon combo than Hotch.

Monty is like Garcia/Hotch, because he's a little quirky like Garcia but he's really good at delivering bad news and being compassionate like Hotch is.

I really like how there are obvious similarities between the teams but there are distinct differences. CM:BB is turning out to be really good. I'm glad that Anna Gunn left. I would not watch the show if she were on it.

* * *

Mae stood in front of the board, biting her lip. There was just something about this case.

All of the countries were different, but something that seemed to hold strong was the concentration on physical contact almost always being thought of as sexual.

She cleared her throat, thinking, realizing that America really wasn't that different. Any sort of embrace between members of the same or opposite sexes was now thought of as physical. She couldn't count the number of people in high school or college who'd shied away from other people for the fear of being thought of as in a relationship with them.

Jack didn't have that problem. He seriously didn't. He wasn't normally a 'touchy' person, but around Mae, she noticed that changed. He was always reaching out to her, as if trying to give her an extra boost of confidence. Sometimes she definitely needed it, considering that she was so often around rather prickly and obstinate foreign men who were reluctant to think of women as having brains, let alone brains and an education that put theirs to shame. He seemed to try to _claim_ her sometimes, reminding all of the male officers in the various precincts that she was _his_ agent and she wouldn't be there if she wasn't qualified and, moreover, he had chosen that she be here.

And they definitely respected him, so that kind of claiming always made everyone back off.

She loved Claire, but she wasn't sure how she felt about her being on the team. She felt guilty, but she was too envious of how much more at ease Claire seemed to be in every situation. She saw how Jack was always looking to her to check on the customs, how he really went to her for help, and sometimes it hurt; that he looked to Mae to protect her, but he looked to Claire for help.

Mae...Mae wanted to be everything to him. Not a burden. Never a burden. She wanted to be the person he went to for _everything_.

So she looked down at the pictures on her phone again, trying to figure out this particular victim. Why had she been killed? What was this about? They'd profiled it as 'mercy' killing; their best bet so far was that the UnSub had a delusion where he saw imaginary illnesses in his victims and killed them.

But then...why were there marks on the rib cage, almost like torture wounds? It was driving her nuts.

She headed for another table, to the cases of files.

"What are you doing?" An officer asked, his accent heavy, but English still correct.

"I'm looking for the pictures of his previous kills," she said. "The ones before we got here."

He frowned at her. Both Matt and Jack were on site right now, and even Claire had gone off to investigate something; of course Claire hadn't been stopped. She radiated confidence, and a 'don't stop me' attitude that had every man in reluctant awe of her.

"You are not approved to see them," he said.

"I'm the medical examiner," she began. "It's my job to look at dead bodies."

"I did not get permission for this," he insisted.

She wanted to threaten him, she wanted to pick up her phone and just call Jack. He'd make sure that the man's supervisor gave him a good talking to for shaming their office in front of the Americans.

But she didn't. "Listen, I have the same approval level of anyone else on my team," she said. "And I know that Matt and Jack were looking at these pictures earlier."

"They were male."

Ah, the kicker.

She exhaled. "I need to look at them," she repeated. "Don't you want to catch him?"

A muscle in the officer's jaw twitched. "It is the way things are here," he insisted, stubborn.

Frustrated, she finally gave up on negotiating, reaching past him for the file boxes.

He grabbed hold of her arm, ignoring the custom of not making contact. He was angry now. She was suddenly regretting this, but thought of what Claire would do and steeled herself.

"Let go of me," she said calmly.

* * *

Jack trusted his agent to be able to take care of herself, but there was something in the officer's gaze that he really didn't like. A raw hunger, reluctant, angry.

Mae would be in trouble if he didn't intervene and make sure that the man knew that this kind of behavior towards _his_ agents would not be tolerated.

He cleared his throat as he entered the room, announcing his presence.

"Are you having a problem, Mae?" He asked.

The officer was a bold one, or maybe just stubborn. He didn't drop Mae's arm. "It is our custom here. Female officers are not allowed to look at photos like this."

"Agent Mae Jarvis is not one of your officers," he explained calmly. "She's part of my team. Let go of her arm or I will be talking to your boss."

The officer twitched and Mae's arm dropped to her side.

He saw the way Mae was looking at him, as though reluctant to make eye contact. Was she angry with him for intervening?

He reflected that, since Claire had joined the team, Mae had been showing a few signs of disliking the women's presence on the team. Not when in Claire's company. Mae obviously adored the older agent.

But Mae didn't like the way it changed Mae's role on the team. How Jack was assigning more things to her; not leaving Mae out but all of the team members were able to do a little less now that they had an extra member.

Was Mae jealous? Did she not like Jack depending on others? Because Mae was very good with change. She tried hard to just bounce back, take things in stride. You had to, in this job.

So it wasn't the change, per se. It was that Mae's role in relation to Jack had changed.

He completed his profile of her in an instant, and walked forward to take the file boxes from the officer. "We'll be looking over these," he said.

The officer left the room.

"Having fun here?" Jack asked quietly.

She brushed her hair behind her ear. "It's a test," she replied honestly.

"If it is testing you, let me be the first to tell you that you're passing with flying colors. I promise," Jack said. "I'm proud of you, Mae. You didn't lose your temper with him. I know that Claire wouldn't have been as calm in a similar situation." He left out the part where most of the male officers they came across would be too scared of Claire to even try it.

Mae's eyes lit up. "Thanks, sir," she answered. "I was honestly feeling a little overwhelmed."

"You're doing a good job," he assured her, and gave into the urge to place a hand on her shoulder. "I'm proud of you."

She seemed to be stepping closer. Why was her face suddenly nearing his? Why were their breaths beginning to intermingle?

He managed to clear his throat and pull back.

"Look at the photos, I'll make sure no one else bothers you," he said, his voice a little husky.

She nodded, eyes wide.

* * *

A/N: Something that would greatly help this story would be if all of my wonderful reviewers managed to leave a few words for this chapter too.

I very much appreciated all of your words on the last chapter. It was definitely a driving force in updating this story to know that people were interested in it.


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